About Me

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

It's Short Bread Day!

Hello Everyone and Happy Holidays,

For the last 40 years, my sister Gail, has been making batches and batches of short bread for friends and family. The recipe is in our Grandma Ross' beautiful handwriting. (The Palmer Penmanship Method is a lost art.) Now the recipe calls for butter and you know me and butter if you follow this blog. This is the only time I will tell you to use OLEO....there, I've said it....OLEO not butter for this recipe. Two years ago this month, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer right before Christmas. This is the one and only time we let her off the "short bread hook." I said I would make the short bread and I used butter. It didn't taste as good as Gail's and the family taste-testers let me know about it!

So to make a long story short, my sister is fit as a fiddle this year and she made the short bread last night and emailed me her pictures. My sister said, "I do think of Grandma every time I make this and think that she would be really pleased that I carry on her tradition. This is year 40! It brings back all the memories of all the fun times we had with her not just at Christmas but all during the year. "

The family cookbook idea was actually started by our mother, Edith Ross Marshall when she gathered all of the family recipes that had been passed down to her.

This short bread melts in your mouth. You can't eat just one either. I should also tell you that we call them "Polar Bear Farts." Sorry about that and I hope it doesn't ruin it for you, but the little kids love asking if they can have another Polar Bear Fart.

Grandma Ross, your baking tradition is alive and well. We know that you are feasting at a bountiful table while listening to a heavenly choir of angels. And we know you brought the short bread!

1 comment:

I'm going to make these today ... Thanks for sharing your memories~I wish I could have high-lighted and pasted her recipe with her hand writing. My father had a beautiful penmanship.He was very meticulous with ever stroke.... And would practice those strokes ~ circles and lines that kind of looked like a tent with that special slant to them. A lost art in todays world it seems! I remember he would circle his hand several times before putting his pen to paper. Love love your blog ~ Brightens my day with all your posts! Crissie